Tourism and Hospitality - Article Example

Investigation of Current and Emerging Issues in Hospitality and Tourism Name: Lecturer: Course: Date: Investigation of Current and Emerging Issues in Hospitality and Tourism Introduction The hospitality and tourism industry are interrelated sectors or segments of the leisure service industry (OECD 2003). In Australia, the industry has over the last one decade undergone a paradigm shift due to the de-regulation, internet and customer driven technology, and environmental management and sustainability. Indeed, the three make up the current and emerging issues in the industry. The underlying assumption is that these three variables have either inspired or forced enterprises operating in the industry to opt for a competitive advantage of internationalisation (Peric 2005). In this respect, Destination Competitiveness Theory suggested by Crouch (2012) is suggested for analysis. Deregulation Deregulation has characterised the Australian hospitality and tourism industry since the early 1990s. Today, it still characterises the industry. Jeremy and Grant (2009) pointed out that deregulation in the industry has generally occurred due to industrial relations system and intensified efforts to increase labour flexibility, in order to gain competitive advantage of the industry. The changes have prevailed at the state and the federal level. They have typically involved initiation of individual bargaining and formalised enterprise with the view of replacing or complementing awards. From the outset, the federal level enterprise bargaining was a brainchild of the Hawke and Keating Labour Governments in the 1990s. On the other hand, the Howard government introduced individual bargaining in the Workplace Relations Act of 1996. Later, it was strengthened in Work Choices legislation of 2005, which today underlies the deregulation trends. The legislative changes indicated that the organisations and the government that determined wages and employment conditions, through tribunal-based awards, had reduced the flexibility of labour. In return, deregulation increases the international competitiveness of the Australian hospitality and tourism industry (Jeremy &Grant 2009). The deregulation that is currently happening in the tourism and hospitality industry is justified largely by the need for increased labour flexibility. Concerns have arisen over the inhibited flexibility of the centralised system, which has been blamed for the diminished competitiveness of the industry internationally. Proponents of deregulation have pointed out that the inflexibility of the industry has largely been caused by intrusion of trade union and existence of awards (Jeremy &Grant 2009). For instance, award regulations have failed to take considerations of the individual attributes and needs of the enterprise and as a result, inhibited the workplace flexibility. The complexity of the award system is blamed for making the administration of the awards costly and difficult. Jointly, the award system and the trade unions have formed a structure that sustains wage pressure. Additionally, deregulation efforts to eliminate barriers to international travel, through the ongoing liberalisation of air transport using the open skies policy, is credited for enhancing tourism growth and better competitiveness internationally. Artificial barriers have been eliminated with the current deregulation of the international air travel, in addition to the fall in the significance of bilateral agreements. Internet and customer driven technology To achieve competiveness in the current trends of rapid changes in the hotel and tourism industry, there is a need for stakeholders to gain clearer insight into the direction of change and its impacts on the destination and business management. A study of the current tourism and hospitality trends in Australia shows that, while it was initially more focused on physical product, the industry has woken up to consumers who appreciate regular delivery of brand within the upmarket luxury segment (Deloitte 2013). This is facilitated by the Internet and customer driven technology. Competition in the hospitality and tourism industry has continued to heighten, which means the greater the competitive advantage the better (Dwyer et al. 2008). The internet and customer driven technology today play an integral role in promoting the competiveness of the Australian tourism and hospitality industry. The internet facilitates access to Australian tourism products and services information globally. At the same time, tourism enterprises in Australian have been able to reach the targeted global consumers, because of the customer-driven technologies, such as web and mobile technology (Dwyer et al. 2008). Analysis of the current state of the Australian tourism and hospitality industry shows that the internet and customer driven technology are continuing to transform the industry. Indeed, they have created a new paradigm-shift that has altered the industry structure, as well as, created a new class of opportunities. These ICT technologies have enhanced the compatibility, reliability and interconnectivity of a range of terminals and applications, as well as, provided powerful tools for strengthening tourism marketing and industry strategies to draw in more customers from across the globe (Bethapudi 2013). Statistics by Deloitte (2013) indicate that compared to other industries within the global economy, the internet has made the biggest impact in promoting tourism, accounting for some one-third of the global service trade. According to Deloitte (2013), tourism travel increased by some 4.3 percent from 1995 to 2008. In particular, e-tourism and the internet cater for the interactivity between the consumers and the tourism firms, as a result, reengineering the processes of creating, managing and promoting the tourism offerings and destinations (Buhalis & O'Connor 2005). At the same time, the internet proliferation support communication between employees, units and enterprises within the tourism industry and with the consumers and external partners. For instance, the internet and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems present have enabled tourism enterprises to reduce the labour costs, as well as, created synergies and interoperability, which have increased efficiency by empowering the employees to improve their performance (Bethapudi 2013). Sustainable Management in Hospitality Concentration Over the last decade, a paradigm shift has existed in the tourism industry to one of sustainable tourism and hospitality (Dwyer et al. 2008). The rationale for the shifts is to attain effective management of the environmental resources of the destinations in a manner that reduces negative environmental implications. Studies of the Australian hospitality and tourism industry have indicated that there is a significant increase in consumer awareness and preference for sustainable tourism (OECD 2003). Hence, more and more consumers are looking for environmentally-friendly tourism products and accommodation and have gained an enriched understanding of the implications of sustainable management in hospitality. In Australia, many hotels, restaurants, destination management firms and convention centres are working towards achieving sustainable management (Deale 2013). Current studies show a growing number of consumers who prefer environmentally-friendly products. Sustainable Management is therefore currently a determinant of competitive advantage. This argument is based on recent findings by Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC), which found that consumer awareness in regards to sustainable tourism has had serious implications on the Australian tourism and hospitality industry. A key implication a notable trend by tourists in Europe and America to avoid long haul flights to outlying destinations such as such as Australia (Victorian Government 2012). Another survey by STCRC indicates that 70 percent of the tourists were willing to change their travel patterns in the future to be more environmentally-friendly. For instance, a study by STCRC indicated that tourism has remained the seventh leading contributor to Australia green gas emissions, generating some 4 percent of the nation’s total carbon emissions (Victorian Government 2012). Additionally, current trends show that tourism transport, accommodation, attractions and events consume substantial amounts of energy, water and most importantly fuel. Of this, air transport is the biggest contributor to green house gas emissions accounting for 40 percent of the industry’s carbon dioxide emission. Hence, the industry has focused on using aircrafts that are 70 percent more environmentally friendly (Victorian Government 2009). Analysis of Relationship From the analysis of de-regulation, internet and customer driven technology, environmental management and sustainability, an underlying conclusion is that the three current and emerging issues drive to achieve competitiveness of the Australian tourism and hospitality industry. The three are mainly focused on elements of destination competitiveness as suggested by Crouch (2007). Deregulation in the industry has resulted from intensified efforts to increase labour flexibility in order to gain competitive advantage of the industry. Second, the internet and customer driven technology play an integral role in increasing the competiveness of the industry on a global scope. At the same time, tourism enterprises have increased their competitive advantage by using the technologies to reach the targeted global consumers. Third, environmental management and sustainability is dictated by the growing number of consumers who tend to prefer environmentally-friendly products. This shows that sustainable tourism management remains a key determinant of competitive advantage. In regards to conceptual analysis, the relationship draws attention to the theories of Competitive Advantage and Comparative Advantage, which specify the need to improve capabilities and use of resources to gain and sustain a competitive advantage. The relationship can further be explained by Destination Competitiveness Theory, suggested by Crouch (2012). According to the theory, destination competition is based on the resource endowment of a destination and its capability to deploy resources for purposes of gaining competitive advantage. The key elements of the theory include using natural resources (such as environmentally-friendly generic scenes), heritage resources, such as customs, supporting resources (such as technology and accommodation). The second element is destination management, which integrates industry and government policy issues (such as deregulation). Based on the Destination Competitiveness Theory, de-regulation can be seen as intended to improve quality management and strategic management. Second, internet and customer driven technology is seen as concerned with destination management system and destination marketing. Lastly, environmental management and sustainability is seen as focused on destination positioning, nature-based tourism and environmental management. Conclusion De-regulation, internet and customer driven technology, environmental management and sustainability are of critical importance in ensuring the hospitality and tourism industry’s competitive advantage, since tourism is a powerful force for Australia’s economic development. By achieving competiveness internationally, it means having more foreign tourists, as well as, increasing global competition from the global tourist destinations. Reference List Bethapudi, A 2013, “The Role of ICT In Tourism Industry," Journal Of Applied Economics and Business, Vol.1 Iss. 4, pp67-79 Buhalis, D & O'Connor, P 2005, "Information Communication Technology Revolutionizing Tourism," Tourism Recreation Research Vol. 30 No. 3, pp7-16 Crouch, G 2007, Modelling Destination Competitiveness: A Survey and Analysis of the Impact of Competitiveness Attributes, CRC for Sustainable Tourism, Gold Coast, Queensland Deale, C 2013, "Sustainability Education: Focusing on Hospitality, Tourism, and Travel," Sustainability Education Deloitte 2013, Hospitality 2015: Game Changes of Spectators, viewed 7 May 2013, http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-Uruguay/Local%20Assets/Documents/Industrias/Uy_Hospitality_2015.pdf Dwyer, L Edwards, D, Mistilis, N, Roman, C, Scott, N & Cooper, C 2008, Megatrends Underpinning Tourism to 2020: Analysis of key drivers for change, viewed 7 May 2014, http://www.crctourism.com.au/wms/upload/resources/bookshop/80046%20dwyer_tourismtrends2020%20web.pdf Jeremy, B & Grant, C 2009, “Hospitality industry (Labor relations),” Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management vol. 6. Peric, V 2005, Tourism and Globalization, Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the Faculty of Management Koper Congress Centre Bernardin, Slovenia, 24–26 November 2005 OECD 2003, National Tourism Policy Review Of Australia, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, viewed 7 May 2014, http://www.oecd.org/cfe/tourism/33649329.pdf Victorian Government 2009, Environmentally Sustainable Tourism Strategic Plan, viewed 7 May 2014, http://www.tourism.vic.gov.au/images/stories/Documents/StrategiesandPlans/Environmentally_Sustainable_Tourism_Plan.pdf Read More